Daddy B. Nice's Updated Profile:

With small printings on minor independent labels, Rue Davis' music remains one of the most obscure of any singer/songwriter in Southern Soul. Davis is one of that hardy band of Texas performers--among them Buddy Ace, R. L. Griffin, Carl Marshall, Little Buck, Gregg A. Smith, Lil' Jimmie, Lady Audrey & The Superior Band, Jabo, Captain Jack Watson and Larry Shannon Hargrove--who in one way or another trace their musical bloodlines back to Texas' contemporary blues master Z.Z. Hill.

All of them pledge their musical fealty to the Southern Soul of the Mississippi Delta and the old-school R&B traditions of Johnnie Taylor and Tyrone Davis--none more so than Rue Davis--and yet their work has more often than not remained invisible or even unavailable to the typical Southern Soul fan. Only Mel Waiters (from San Antonio) has truly broken out to become a quasi-national star.

Of all the other musicians cited, Rue Davis (still in middle-age) should hold the most allure for fans craving first-rate vocals and exceptional songwriting.

The recordings themselves, although artfully arranged, are nothing to write home about. Blues purists who only want to listen to the same blues riffs honed to the most sophisticated level of technique and production need not apply.

Rue Davis's work takes your Daddy B. Nice back to the early days (late nineties, turn-of-the-century) while traveling around Mississipi and the Gulf Coast, picking up the sounds of Southern Soul for the first time. The music had a programmed sound, but that didn't bother me because I was coming from a background in disco and funk and rap, where it was common. In fact, the word "programmed" didn't even occur to me.

I had a vague mental association between the poverty of this section of the country and the corresponding limitations to production. But none of that mattered because the "guts" of the music was so fresh, pure and original.

Here was real soul music, rediscovered, and I never looked back twice in choosing the "lite"
production in order to get to the soulful songs and the genuine soul singing. (And to this day I just shake my head and feel sorry for the blues fans in socks and sandals fixated on technique and blues liturgy.)

Rue Davis, as you get to know him, is like that. For years "Honey Poo" was one of the few Davis songs to get any airplay. It's a fairly light, almost minimalist number, even for Davis.

For the "real instrument" purist, the horns are the most obvious snag. And "Honey Poo" is such a humble, aw-shucks, "don't-notice-me" type of song it doesn't hint at the scope and sophistication of Rue Davis' overall catalog.

Recently, however--and in particular with the dawn of YouTube, where Rue Davis is surprisingly well-represented--the typical Southern Soul fan can hear Rue Davis singing full-length songs for the first time ever. The tracks memorialize a flawless soul singer at the peak of his powers.

Listening to this outpouring of new (although old) Rue Davis material on YouTube is like listening to a great new artist for the first time. (Scroll down to Tidbits #1 to link to Rue Davis' YouTube offerings.)

The only sobering thought in hearing these masterfully-sung tunes is that there are so few albums, a half-dozen or so, for more than half a lifetime of work. The songs whet the appetite for more.

Return Of The Legend, Davis' last album (Boom Town, 2008) is already four years old and out of print as this is being written in 2012.

Return Of The Legend did not, to be frank, get much airplay when it came out. In retrospect, the collection is a veritable primer of Southern Soul.

Dallas-based producer Carl Marshall does some of his finest background tracks ever. Fans who know him only from his more overbearing style on CDS-produced CD's will marvel at his tasteful and near-invisible handiwork here.

Davis is an arranger with few peers himself. Songs like "So Glad You're Mine" boast atmospheric-strings, Brian Eno-ish effects painted with the utmost delicacy; if he were a painter, Rue Davis would be a water-colorist.

The YouTube offerings span all the albums Rue Davis has birthed since his debut in the mid-nineties, and the seasoned quality of an artist fully arrived is remarkably consistent. Rue's vocal style is as nuanced as Willie Clayton, and the female background singing is always a delight, adding color and texture. The songs are substantial and the arrangements are frequently inspired.

With his ear for great melodies, his impeccable stylishness and timing, Rue Davis may bear more similarities to the late, great Johnnie Taylor than anyone alive today, including JT's many performing sons, and it's fervently hoped here that he finds the means to continue recording.

What this YouTube treasure trove of new, available Rue Davis material signifies is the presence in our midst of humble new star. Your Daddy B. Nice recommends readers to ALL of the YouTube links (something I wouldn't normal do) to the artist's work in the "Tidbits" section (scroll down) and to the sound samples in the "Recommended Tracks" (right-hand column). There's hardly a miss in all the selections.

What I like best about Rue Davis is that, whatever you think of him, he defines that sweet spot--that middle spot--of the Southern Soul sound, a sound that with the onrush of new young artists has become, in truth, a bit hard to find, a bit endangered. It's the sound of Johnnie Taylor, of Frank Mendenhall, of Quinn Golden, of Lee "Shot" Williams. It's the sound anyone who loves Southern Soul doesn't want to hear die.

--Daddy B. Nice

About Rue Davis (New Album Alert!)

Rue Davis was born in Houston, Texas on June 24, 1955. His adopted mother, the gospel singer Ella Mae Davis, was his greatest childhood influence, and Rue became a child soloist for the Allen Gospel Singers.

He began his secular career in 1979, singing blues and recording for a local Houston label, Palladium Records. In the mid-eighties blues singer Trudy Lynn introduced Davis to producer Freddie Cole and he cut singles for Freko Records. Davis then recorded two of his first notable singles, "Hard To Live Without You" and "The Girl Next Door" for Houston producer Tom Neal.

In the early 90's Davis began working in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, where he met Estus and Lester Patterson, the owners of Kon-Kord Records. Davis bought back his early Houston singles and with the Pattersons as producers recorded his first album, I'm In Love With The Girl Next Door for Hollywood-based Kon-Kord. The album featured the singles "Heaven Has Sent Me Your Love" and "Honey Poo."

Davis added three tracks and re-released the record under the title You Are My Honey Poo on the Ichiban label in 1995. (Rue released it a third time under the Kon-Kord label in 2003--a big year for Davis, the same year Dap Daddy came out--under the title Heaven Has Sent Me Your Love.)

The albums Somebody Wants You and Rue Davis Sings With Friends followed in 1998 and 1999 on the Avanti label.

Candy Sweet (Off The Hook) and Dapp Daddy (Knock On Wood) followed in 2001 and 2003.

For Real appeared on Studio Showtime in 2005 amd Return Of The Legend on the Houston-based Boomtown in 2008.

In addition, Rue Davis has appeared on many other Southern Soul artists' discs over the years, perhaps most memorably on a duet (from the CD Bettin' On You, Kon-Kord) with Patti Sterling on a super-charged cover of Z.Z. Hill's "Love Is So Good When You're Stealing It."

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